Watching Boy Erased<\/i> is hard work. It’s a downbeat look at a religious doctrine absolutely committed to outlawing homosexuality. You pity the poor souls who face indoctrination aimed at exorcising what is regarded as a vile sin.<\/p>\n
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\nBoy Erased<\/i> tells the true story of Jared Eamons (Lucas Hedges), the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town. At age 18, Eamons is pressured by his parents, Marshall and Nancy (played by Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman), into attending a gay conversion therapy program.<\/p>\n
There he meets many others like him who are still trying to determine who they are as people. While in the program, Jared becomes increasingly troubled by the methodology of the so-called counsellors. Inevitably, he comes into conflict with the program\u2019s head therapist (Joel Edgerton) and begins his journey to finding his own voice and accepting his true self.<\/p>\n
Edgerton, who also directs, wrote the screenplay, inspired by Garrard Conley\u2019s true-life memoir titled Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family<\/i>. Conley maintains that the sights, sounds and textures of his experience remain as vivid as ever. The intervening 14 years hadn\u2019t erased his trauma; and that’s reflected in the movie. The message is clear: prejudice, whether you are the one wielding it or receiving it, damages all.<\/p>\n
There is something Stepford Wives<\/i> (which also featured Nicole Kidman) about Boy Erased<\/i>\u00a0 – this notion of creating a perfect society filled with loyal servants. In this case, Kidman\u2019s Nancy goes from pliable to being awakened by her son\u2019s suffering. I didn\u2019t find any of the characters all that accessible, nor the film as a whole for that matter. Marshall is in denial, while Jared is often passive.<\/p>\n